Interview: Ties with China offer LatAm chance to modernize economy: Brazilian expert

Latin American countries are forging closer ties with China in the hope that the Asian power can offer a chance for the modernization of their economies, Marcos Troyjo, a Brazilian political scientist, has said.

China has become an essential partner for Latin American countries, and ties with China have improved their outlook at a time of weak global growth, Troyjo, director of BRICLab, a center for studies on the BRICS bloc of emerging economies at Columbia University in New York, told Xinhua in a written interview.

"Beijing advocates comprehensive cooperation with regional countries, and Latin Americans are echoing that nature on China-Latin America ties."

The two regions' complementarity makes the relationship strategic, said the academic, as Latin America can supply China with agricultural and mining raw materials, and in exchange, China is willing to invest sizable sums to build up the region's weak infrastructure.

China has said it aims to increase trade with Latin America to 500 billion U.S. dollars and to boost investment in the region to 250 billion dollars by 2025.

In addition to complementarity in terms of trade, the two sides are in favor of multilateralism in international politics.

"The Asian giant is not only the main destination for Latin American goods, but also a potential pivot toward a new world order, where the United States would play a smaller leading role," Troyjo said.

At this week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru, the bloc's 21 member economies are expected to advance on a free trade zone in the Asia-Pacific region, an idea agreed at the APEC meeting in Beijing in 2014.

"In the Pacific, a White House proposal for an investment and trade partnership, which to date has excluded Beijing from the negotiations, will also lose steam," noted Troyjo, referring to the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to dump.

Today, the world sees a United States that appears more protectionist, and a China that appears more open to free trade, said Troyjo. Endi